From Leo's mailbag:
> From: A Computer User
> Sent: June 08, 2005
> To: Ask Leo!
> Subject: how do the police track web activity?
>
> Leo,
> Hi Leo. I have been interested in the police techniques in
> cracking down illegal websites, child pornography etc. and
> most recently a message board/chatroom hosted unknowingly by
> MSN about an abhorrent 'rape club' that was shut down as soon
> as it came to their attention.
>
> In the news it is claimed that police have a way of 'tracing
> through cyberspace' to find out about the perpetrators, even
> if they had left fake details and email addresses.
>
> What details can be gathered from a shut-down message board
> or chatroom? Can an IP address be taken even if the site is
> closed? Although the IP can only bring them to an ISP what
> legal steps would be taken next? Also what else is there
> besides an IP address that can be taken? And just how
> advanced or what do they have that allow the proper
> authorities to gather or trace so much from the internet?
What the authorities have that you and I do not is the cooperation
(sometimes via court orders) of the ISPs and website hosts.
For example, a web site can, and normally does, log every IP
address that visited it. With that, owner of that IP address can
be located. Both require assistance from the service providers that
they do not give lightly. You can I can only go so far, but the
servers and ISPs typically have enough information to go further.
It's often more of a legal/political issue than it is a technical
one.
Thanks for asking!
Leo
Article 8594
| Category:
Internet
